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This fall, I’m interning in Washington, DC at an incredibly powerful federal government agency, for a division designed to protect the welfare of children through federal funding. The Washington Semester Program at IC I has offered me the opportunity to be in a cultural environment where I can attend hearings on the Hill, meet the leaders of the new administration like the Attorney General Holder, all the while exploring DC and what it has to offer; the Smithsonian museums, the architecture, the nightlife. Overall, it has been an incredible experience.

However, as a liberal, feminist, Ithacan sociology major, the prospect of working for the federal government petrified me. I’d be working for “the man”, “the man” who has a terrible tendency to ostracize anyone or anything outside the norm, “the man” who is consumed with beurocracy and nothing else. Granted, the new administration has gone a long way in addressing these unspoken issues, but it still terrified me. And I had good reason.

On my very first day, I had to fill out a form in quadruplets and get approval by 4 different people before I could even walk into the building. I sat in on a meeting of 30 of the most influential people and there were 3 men, the fact that helping children, even on a federal level, was gendered was beyond apparent. My first assignment was to create a reporting manual directing one on the proper way to fill out a federal form. I literally wrote step by step instructions on where one should write their name. I had become the epitome of a bureaucratic system I truly despise, I saw no real benefit of the work I was doing, nor any comprehensive rationale to continue pushing paper around my grey 6’x4’ cubical.

So why am I doing it? Why am I still here? It is my 8th week as an intern; I have seen the bureaucratic nonsense, the ridiculous chain of command, all the acronyms and the people whose egos are even too big for the federal government to handle-if you can believe that. But I have also seen the work that’s being done. The bottom line is that I am part of a process that helps children. I work for an agency that gives out money to fabulous organizations in an effort to eliminate the amount of children exposed to violence, to assist law enforcement officers in the apprehension and prosecution of those who victimize children and to give children opportunities they never would have had otherwise. Admittedly, there is not enough money and not enough organizations, but the work is being done; there are programs that are created that change people lives and that dictate models and best practices to prevent child abuse and delinquency.

The programs that come out of my office are thoughtfully and articulately well designed. I have, personally, done a lot of work with a combined law enforcement network across the nation intended to find those who are engaged with child pornography, using specific software, and put them behind bars. The man that thought of this intricately connected, and technologically advanced, program sits two cubicles down from me. I am surrounded by great minds, attempting, with fabulously good intentions, to do great work in a flawed system.

And the system is flawed, don’t get me wrong. I’m working within a structure that promotes a way of leading this nation which I simply do not agree with. The oppression which resonates from American capitalism should not be tolerated and is simply not the only solution that America can turn to when governing. To not acknowledge the social realities so many people around the world face, not just in America, thanks to the capitalism of the United States federal government would be foolish. But, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d rather someone who knows all this, someone who recognizes these facts and has a vision for the future, to go about working within it to fix it, instead of some burnt out old bureaucrat who sees no other option and continues to actively portray its oppressive, often racist, sexist and classist ideals.

Being in a position like the one I am in now, even just a lowly intern, I am privy to information, protocol, procedure and power that I would not have otherwise. To not take advantage of this knowledge, of the people I work with, would be a disservice to the future I hope to have. If I could dismiss all who don’t agree with me, or my beliefs, as stupid or ignorant or blatant idiots, I would. The problem is, most of the time, they aren’t. To know the system, and know the forces at work within it, is to know how to fix it; how to fix it for me and for the adults and children it’s supposed to be helping.
 

I wanted to write to let you know what I am up to in the city! I am now in my second year of graduate school at Hunter College and I couldn't be happier with the school, professors, and classes. This past summer I worked for the dean of the school helping her organize materials for accrediation, which was a lot of work.

Luckily, I was chosen to be in a new course/internship being offered at Hunter. I'm with 10 other students, and this summer we had an intensive training on trauma informed cognitive behavioral therapy. We have trainings throughout the year, and will have another course in the spring. Right now, I am placed at St Vincent's Hospital in the Trauma and Wellness Center. I work with children, ages 4-17, who have experienced some kind of trauma. While the work is challenging, I'm finding the TF-CBT training to be so helpful and interesting. I am very passionate about this work, and I have been working very hard to separate myself from the difficult stories of my clients.

Overall, I am really happy, and excited to continue learning in this field. I'm already anxious about finding a job in the spring, but I'm hopeful this training will help me.

I just wanted you all to know how I am doing, because you were such a big influence in me choosing this journey.

All throughout my pre-college education, I had about a dozen interests. I liked history, loved science, and theatre was my passion in later years. When it came time to pick colleges I still had a ton of little interests. I thought anthropology? Could be fun. Communications? Maybe... Theatre? Maybe... American History? Religion? Or, hey, that sociology class sounds fun. Once I took my first class in the Sociology department (I think it was a hybrid multi-cultural studies class that ended up being the first course for CSRE), I got taste for a way that I could join a few of my interests into one.

I didn't declare Sociology major until I was a first semester Junior, but unofficially I was taking classes left and right to fulfill the major. During this time I had doubts. I kept seeing my theatre friends ascend the ranks within Dillingham, and I felt left out, but then I started doing a few shows for social causes. I did a play about Anorexia, called "Dying to be Thin." And I did this play shortly after working as an assistant director for the Vagina Monologues (a show I worked on again last year as director). Most recently I worked on a very important and intimate show called "Poetic Injustice" in which I portrayed a prisoner in Texas and spoke the words he had written for a journal project. Through this experience, I knew my place was in the Sociology Dept. As odd as it sounds, my experiences were more meaningful to me as a Sociology major doing theatre than if I were a Theatre major doing Sociology. 

The first non-profit organization I ever worked for was called, "The Vox Project". Our mission statement was to help find a way for young women who, against their will, were involved in drug trafficking and prostitution, to find a voice. I was only fifteen when I began to work for the Vox Project. I learned the power of public demonstrations, such as spoken word performances. When applying for college, I decided that I would keep working towards liberating the arrested bodies and voices of young women. With this in mind, I declared an English and Education Major. I hoped that by inspiring, teaching, and learning from the youth I would be able to make a change.

While I enjoyed being an English and Education Major, I couldn't help feeling a loss. I wanted to be more connected. After taking Sociology of Sexualities with Professor Rebecca Plante my freshman year, I realized that I needed to become more educated in the struggle for equality before I could start to make a change. Consequently, I declared a major in Sociology. After taking several courses in Sociology, I feel confident in wanting to pursue a life dedicated to non-profit organizations that provide a voice for those who's words have been silenced.

Going to college my parents, both educators told me that I would change my major (then English—bad life choice), they expected, about three or four times. For possibly the first, and definitely not the last time in my life I proved them wrong, and changed it only once. Morgan: 1, Parents: 0.
When I think about it, my reasons for being a Sociology major are WAY similar to why I came to IC in the first place. The top two reasons I came to Ithaca you ask?

1. It is not a research school—I didn’t like the research schools that visited. I felt like a number, and to me the professors gave off the vibe that they had better things to be doing than teaching classes and answering student emails/questions during office hours.

2. IC was the one place where I knew I could dabble (read: dabble across schools, and other aspects of college life). Being in H&S didn’t mean I couldn’t take classes in the music school, or Park, or any other school for that matter.

I became a Sociology major (much to my English advisor’s dismay), officially, spring semester my freshman year. My first semester freshman year I found myself dreading going to my English classes and decided that something was very wrong with that picture—also, they were all at like 9 am, which after my 6 am wake up time the previous 7 years didn’t seem early. Apparently 9 am was to early for my body/the shenanigans of college because I was constantly falling asleep in my 20 person 9 am (my professor wasn’t happy).

Halfway through spring semester I said, “screw this” and became a Sociology major. It was during this semester that I enrolled in my first ever sociology class at IC—Sexual Oppression, then taught by the woman who would become my advisor/tell me numerous times over the next 3 years to stop worrying so much. This decision is the best of my academic career to date.

Back to my reasons for coming to IC and their relationship to my major. As a Sociology major I…

1. Have professors who see their primary job at this college to be teachers. My professors have helped with not only assignments, but with my decision to graduate early, not go abroad, not transfer, intern where I did, teach English overseas post college, and consider the idea of becoming a professor myself. By my Sociology professors I am always encouraged to ask questions, and study what I see as most interesting. My plan post-college is to teach overseas, a desire which was encouraged by a professor. Another professor is currently helping me create a writing sample for graduate school within the structure of an independent study. My first week back, another professor stopped me in the hall, asking why I hadn’t been in her office yet to chat.

2. Have dabbled…a lot….more than most of the friends I have here…across schools, and cities. Even my non-sociological internship can be turned sociological. My research project was on body image of college students. My independent study deals with sex education and sex education policy. I am currently helping a professor do research and gather material for a website of work and family information run out of Boston College. I have interned in a local school—where I am going back to volunteer this semester. I have supported the staff at Big Brothers, Big Sisters, in Boston. I interned for a record promotion company—very little to do with the department itself, but as a major, do you know how cool it was to be the driving force behind what college radios play? The people at that company help to decide what is cool! I am currently a T.A. (teaching assistant) for Intro. To Sociology, a decision which my professors helped me to make, and one on which they encouraged me to follow my gut.

But the coolest part (at least to me) about the major? I get to study things that I’m interested in, and that I care about. As a college student, you change (anyone who tells you differently is lying), and Sociology has allowed me to change what I study as I grow as a person. If it has to do with people or a social institution, I can frame it through a sociological lens. For example, the other day I was watching a Beyonce video (don’t ask) and though to myself hummm I wonder if there’s a difference between the way she is portrayed and the way white female pop stars are portrayed in their videos? I wonder if there’s a difference between them and country singers too? What a cool research thing to look into. That’s right, I could turn that into a research question and subsequent project… I know, it’s super cool, right?

Another cool thing about the major? It’s become like a mini-family for me. Think Thanksgiving, with the extended family gathered in the same place for the once a year reunion, everyday, without the arguments that have caused rifts for like the last 15 years. The professors know students names, the majors know each other, some of my closest friends are Sociology majors.

I guess you could say I'm a Sociology major because I love it, and as far as majors go it loves me right back.